I WAS saddened to read of Worcestershire County Council’s decision to sell off the historic building at Woodfield that housed the town’s registration services, and I wholeheartedly welcome Steven Walker’s petition to save it. It is an important community asset and very dear to the hearts of the many couples who were married there.

The decision is part of the county council’s review of its property programme and is being made in response to the national government’s damaging and needless austerity agenda. The authority is being forced to make £80 million worth of cuts by 2017 – including £30 million during this current financial year – and so it is easy to predict that we will see other local services being relocated or downgraded, most likely just after the General Election in May.

Councillor John Campion has told us that any recognised community group can register an interest in making a bid to purchase the muchloved property, but what he fails to understand is that the community already own the building and we don’t want it in private hands.

The loss of the Grade II-listed building is also a symptom of the trend towards greater centralisation and privatisation. It is no secret that Worcestershire aims to become the first “fully-commissioned” county council in England, whereby all council services are provided by private companies. However grand this may sound, it is almost certain to result in more and more services being merged into single sites located far away from Wyre Forest residents’ homes.

It will mean that private profits will be prioritised over public benefit and that secretive deals will continue to erode democratic accountability. The fate of Kidderminster Hospital is a parable for all public services in the district.

We urgently need a more humanscale democracy in Wyre Forest and because communities work best when people have more say in the decisions that affect their lives.

Decisions like this should not be made at a higher level when they can be better done more locally. Like others, I had hoped that the county council would work constructively with local people to retain ownership and modernise the Woodfield site.

Typically, I should have known better.

By voting Green in the forthcoming elections, I will be contributing to the peaceful revolution currently gripping British politics.

For the first time in a long time, it is possible to elect a parliament which will work for the common good, not just for the few.

Doug Hine Wyre Forest Green Party